undiagnosed or late-diagnosed autistics, time to reveal yourselves. what is one memory from your childhood or pre-teen years that should have suggested to people that you might have autism, but didn’t.
for me, i made my mom sing me a lullaby every night until i was 12, because i didn’t like the idea of my nightly routine ever changing. if she didn’t sing me one, i would get out of bed, go get her from wherever she was in the house, bring her to my room, and make her tuck me in and sing one to me. i wasn’t able to fall asleep until she did.
Having a huge fit if someone used my plate :’) I would get so so upset for years. Also only using one ~special~ cup and getting upset when it had to be washed and I had to use a different one 😬
Please stop changing the layout of your store. I understand that neurotypicals like to “change things up” every once and a while but if your store has had the exact same layout and look for 10+ years please don’t change it.
This is so confusing and stressful for so many people including my autistic self, my stroke survivor mother, my elderly grandmother, and many other customers I overheard talking while we walked through the store.
Sincerely,
A very stressed out autistic that’s still recovering from her extremely stressful and upsetting trip to Walmart
Since it is autism acceptance/awareness month I thought I would make a post of ways my autism affects me that I don't usually see people talk about :) A little warning: this post is mostly about my support needs.
Friendly reminder that everyone has different experiences with asd and different support needs so please don't be mean :)
I'm doing it under the read more thing because I think it will be really long
I feel like I should start off by saying that I have a really hard time putting my thoughts into words so I'll have full proper thoughts in my head but I just can't say them out loud/type them out in a way that makes sense so talking takes a long time for me sometimes and leads to people misunderstanding me a lot.
I can't brush my teeth unless someone stands in the bathroom with me or if I'm going out somewhere which means sometimes I'll go days without brushing my teeth.
I cannot trim my own nails.
I can't shower unless it follows a specific schedule that cannot be broken or if someone makes me or if I'm super gross and can feel how icky I am.
I don't change my socks unless someone sits down and does it with me.
I can't vacuum.
I need someone to go grocery shopping for me and buy meal items and snacks because I have a hard time getting food for full meals because I can't plan them out and get overwhelmed and sensory overloaded in grocery stores.
I need to follow recipes other wise I'll only ever make the same three things.
Something that I think would be really helpful for me would be if someone would sit down with me and help me find recipes for the entire week so we can plan out exactly what I'm going to eat all week and then they can help me make a list of everything we need for those recipes so when we go shopping we'll only buy those things so I don't get too overwhelmed.
And you're probably thinking "why can't you just do that by yourself? You just solved your own problem" but unfortunately my brain doesn't work like that and I need help with things that might seem kinda dumb or silly to people.
I need someone in the room with me while I'm cooking but they can't be around me, they have to just exist in the room at the same time as me so I can ask for help if I need it and so I stay on task.
I need help washing the dishes. I can do them if I'm told to and if someone stays in the room as me but I have a really hard time doing it alone and just won't do it if I live alone :/
Also I can wash dishes but I can't put them away it's too loud and hurts my ears a lot.
I need help doing laundry and folding it and putting it away.
I'm not sure how to word this but sometimes instead of going non verbal I can only talk with "simple" words and have a really hard time forming full sentences which allistic people get mad about for some reason >:(
Finding jobs that I can do seem near impossible at the moment but I'm still researching some positions I think would be good for me.
I can't drive and I don't think I'll ever be able to which is super inconvenient and isolating.
I can't make big decisions by myself, I need a lot of help making big choices.
I need help with finance stuff, I don't like being the only one that has control of my money it scares me. I would like to have someone I can trust that can have access to my bank account and le me access my money after talking about what I'm going to purchase and have a bit of emergency money.
Everyone always talks about their autism making them feel older than they are but I feel a lot younger than I actually am and people always think I'm younger than I am.
I have a lot more support needs than people my age that I know which makes me feel childish
I feel like everyone my age knows so many things and understands things that I don't. I feel like there's a lot of basic information/life skills that everyone my age knows by now that I don't know, I just know I'm missing them which makes me feel young too.
I can't think of anything else at the moment and this is already getting pretty long so I'm going to end it here.
Thank you for reading, please don't be mean this post is for awareness/education and is my own personal experience.
being autistic and using “big words” or sounding unnatural in conversation is like. i am different from everyone else and no one really understands me, so im trying my best to communicate and be understood by using very precise and exact language even if it doesn’t “sound right” in informal settings, so that i might bridge the gap in understanding between us. but now im weird AND talk funny.
Yes! And everyone gets mad at me because they think I’m being pretentious or somehow insulting their intelligence by using “big words” like no dude I either talk like a complete buffoon or I talk like An Academic™️ it’s just how my brain works and sometimes “big words” are the only way to describe things.
Cats: "mew" • Like to make little noises to communicate • come off as aloof but actually just show affection differently • sometimes like touch...sometimes NO • ZOOM
Bats: often sensitive to light • unheard communication • known for flapping (literally called "Bats") • so misunderstood - and feared??? • Needs dark and quiet
Birds (especially corvids and parrots): Sounds Galore! Some even mimic sounds they hear • More flapping • puzzle solvers • some are prone to anxiety when favorite person is gone • unique senses of style
Whales (Dolphins, "whales", porpoises, belugas, narwhals): "EEEEE" • Some are very social, othrs are shy and roam the world humming ethereal tunes in the darkness we cannot comprehend • they do flips and spins just for fun • Sound sensitive. Noise pollution is harmful • Trickster Gods. But also have shown great empathy
Fireflies: Light it Up Gold! • Nonverbal Communication • Just love dark nights and cozy leaf litter • sensitive environmental changes • Somehow... we always find each other in the darkness ♡
I got a job stocking shelves at a grocery store and it’s so bad for my autism.
- The music is so loud and it’s all pop stuff that’s hard to listen to anyways
- The lights are really bright
- Customers come up to me and ask where stuff is which throws me off
- Customers will randomly joke around with me or try to make conversation which is Bad for me
- I have to open boxes and touch so many products so my hands feel disgusting
- I can’t openly stim
- etc
And all of that could be easily fixed and make my job an autistic friendlier place by just
- turning down the music/letting me wear headphones
-dimming the lights
- letting me wear gloves/or even just letting me wash my hands whenever I need to
- and letting me wear a shirt or something that says something about how I’m autistic and get overwhelmed by talking to strangers so please ask someone else for assistance or something like that.
It’s so hard for people with autism to work and I feel like that’s mostly because of how autism unfriendly (??I can’t think of the right words right now) work places are. So many issues we face in our every day lives could be fixed if the neurotypicals just listen to us.
Good news, I might get fired for taking one day off because I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and it’s really symptomatic right now so I won’t even have to worry about that stuff anymore
I got a job stocking shelves at a grocery store and it’s so bad for my autism.
- The music is so loud and it’s all pop stuff that’s hard to listen to anyways
- The lights are really bright
- Customers come up to me and ask where stuff is which throws me off
- Customers will randomly joke around with me or try to make conversation which is Bad for me
- I have to open boxes and touch so many products so my hands feel disgusting
- I can’t openly stim
- etc
And all of that could be easily fixed and make my job an autistic friendlier place by just
- turning down the music/letting me wear headphones
-dimming the lights
- letting me wear gloves/or even just letting me wash my hands whenever I need to
- and letting me wear a shirt or something that says something about how I’m autistic and get overwhelmed by talking to strangers so please ask someone else for assistance or something like that.
It’s so hard for people with autism to work and I feel like that’s mostly because of how autism unfriendly (??I can’t think of the right words right now) work places are. So many issues we face in our every day lives could be fixed if the neurotypicals just listen to us.
